Ron Sawka Ministries
December 06, 2023; Kislev 23, 5784
www.rwsministries.com
The Power of Acts of Kindness
“To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14).
“Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:4).
“‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’” (Matt. 25:39–40).
Greetings!
Recently I have been reading in the book of Job, the righteous man of God who for some unfathomable reason suffered. The text that jumped out at me was Job 6:14, which states that when someone suffers they need to be shown kindness.
Job was a man who suffered great affliction. Suddenly, all he had—including his children—was taken away—gone. Shortly thereafter, he became sick and suffered intense physical pain, so much that he wished he’d never been born.
Then, his friends came to “console” him. But what they did and said is a lesson in how not to treat someone who is suffering. They showed no kindness. Instead of saying, “We’re standing with you and praying for you,” they actually judged him. They felt it was their job to explain why this all had happened. They tried to explain “God” to Job in a way that made sense to themselves. There was no empathy whatsoever. They assumed Job had sinned and needed to repent and then God would bless him and help him recover. They immensely added to his pain. The second part of Job 6:14, “Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty,” is a bit obscure, but does imply that if we are judgmental and don’t show kindness, that we may actually hasten their departure from God and His love.
Most people, and especially Christians, somehow intrinsically know that when there is a crisis we need to show kindness. When the horrific tsunami hit our area in Japan in 2011, Christians from around Japan were some of the very first to arrive on the scene, and basically lived out the above text. They helped. They brought supplies. They aided in a myriad of ways. To be sure, there were those whose first thought was “evangelism,” but by and large most Christians seemed to know that what the Lord wanted was for us to help in any way we could. There were many acts of kindness.
Periodically, all of us will have family or friends or acquaintances who meet sudden tragedy. What are we to do? The answer is simple—show kindness. Whether it is a physical act or just words, we must show love and kindness.
Why are acts of kindness important? Because the Lord Himself gets involved. His anointing goes to work. Scripture tells us that these “acts” are actually done unto him. Matthew 25:39–40 states, “‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” In other words, when we show “acts of kindness,” whether physical, emotional, or verbal, the Lord is right there in the midst of them. We are definitely not operating on our own. The Holy Spirit is there touching people through us.
Sometimes we’re apt to think it’s our skillful use of words or our deft explanation of our prior suffering that is the key. It’s not. In 2 Corinthians 1:4, we read, “Who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God,” The key is that the Lord Himself will impart help, healing, and comfort to people. But He will be able to do it because we have chosen to act and speak kindly.
Thanks for praying,
Ron and Teddy
Pray for Israel
Let’s keep praying and always remember this truth—what the devil means for evil, God will use for good.
You can join the daily fifteen-minute prayer session led by Patricia Bootsma (CTF), which I highly recommend. You can join via Zoom: http://prayer.jhisrael.com/pray; passcode: pray.
Daily 11:00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time
Kislev: The Ninth Hebrew Month (Nov. 14–Dec. 12)
Be Sure to Celebrate
God wants us to be joyous, celebrating people. Most of us know that perhaps God’s greatest purpose in giving us the feasts is to help change our mindsets. He doesn’t want us to be worried and fearful, but wants us to be full of joy because we’re doing life with Him. Thus, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles are all feasts. They are celebration times. The same is true of the monthly feast of first fruits. Yes, each month has some specific things God wants us to focus on. But each and every monthly first fruit celebration is, in fact, a celebration. A joyful time. This is the mindset God wants us to have. As we look at all the problems in the world, our response must be joy. Remember what Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
MPP (Mondays–Fridays, 6:00–6:45 a.m.)
The next scheduled off days are as follows:
Monday, December 25–Friday, January 5
Weekly Broadcast Schedule (Times are listed in Japan Time, UTC+9:00.)
Apostolic for Russia—Fridays, twice monthly: Dec. 8 and 22, 7:00–8:00 p.m. Join us on Zoom (Meeting ID: 840 2016 0640, Code: 219951), or watch on YouTube.
Apostolic for Chinese:—Saturday, Dec. 23, 8:00–9:30 p.m. Join us on Zoom (ID: 823 7276 5237, Code: 878174)
Apostolic Center Training—Tuesdays, 8:30–10:00 p.m., English/Chinese, registration required. Please contact chinese@rwsministries.com.
Note, I usually post links to my public Facebook page.
Resources
Ron’s new book, How to Activate Prophecy and Revelation Gifts, the first title in our new “Apostolic Center Training Series,” is intended as a tool for training others in prophetic activation. It is now available for Kindle. Print copies can also be obtained from our office in Sano. Contact info@rwsministries.com for information about ordering copies, or to obtain any of the four books from the “Building Apostolic-Prophetic Foundations” series, which are also available on Kindle:
• Judah Goes First: The Power of Apostolic-Prophetic Praise
• Activated to Prophesy: The Essential Experience for This New Church Era
• Apostles and Apostolic Anointing: Raising Up the End-Times Believers
For English or Japanese books, contact info@rwsministries.com.
For Chinese books, chinese@rwsministries.com
For more information or to connect with our ministry team, please write us at info@rwsministries.com or info@mppjapan.com.
Giving
You are welcome to give to Yarn Alive via giving to Ron Sawka Ministries. Please clearly mark your designation. Thank you.
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Japan
Japan Apostolic Fund Supporters should give directly to CTF Japan. Also, Yarn Alive donations can be given directly.
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